Confusion in Cooks over EU fisheries agreement

The Cook Islands opposition says a purse seine fishing agreement with the European Union is invalid because it's been signed off incorrectly. However a government spokesperson, Edwin Pittman, says the government is yet to complete the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement. But the opposition leader, Teina Bishop, insists it has been approved by cabinet and merely needs to be rubber stamped by prime minister Henry Puna. He says the document was initialled by the Marine Resources secretary for the EU to endorse, but under the 2005 Marine Resources Act, only the minister, who happens to be Henry Puna, can do that. Mr Bishop says he just made the discovery this week and will be writing to the EU's ambassador and other regional agencies to state his concerns.